De Chinese Wouden, maandag 30 juni: handelsoorlog, NAVO-top, Trump-Xi
De stemming in Brussel is niet positief voor China. Juist nu komt Wang Yi naar Europa om met de leiders van Duitsland, Frankrijk, België en de EU te spreken. Maar in SCMP komt de metafoor bij van ‘stinkende vis’ die Peking op tafel zou hebben gelegd in de vorm van exportcontrole voor zeldzame aardmetalen. De EU wil daar eerst vanaf. Servië zou de goede banden met Peking hebben gebruikt om toezeggingen te krijgen voor de Stelantis-fabriek daar.
Vooruitgang op bredere China-dossiers is voor de EU zelf lastig te voorzien. Reuters schrijft dat er een oplossing zou zijn voor Chinese heffingen op Europese cognac, maar dat dit voorstel afhankelijk is van Brusselse acceptatie van een oplossing voor elektrische auto’s. De EU lijkt ook al weinig coulance te kunnen verwachten van Trump. Europese leiders gaan daar al van uit en willen haast voor de naderende deadline.
Onder Kantelpunt een selectie uit artikelen die de balans opmaken na de NAVO-top in Den Haag. De toon is niet positief. Europa heeft tijd gewonnen, maar de manier waarop verdient geen schoonheidsprijs. Vanuit Peking zag de vernedering eruit als een demonstratie van Europese onmacht. Dat moet de Chinese partijtop alleen maar hebben gesterkt in haar gedachte, dat China geen substantiële toezeggingen hoeft te doen aan een machteloze EU.
Volgens Nikkei Asia zou Trump een bezoek aan China plannen met CEO’s, net als recent naar de Golfstaten. Het Japanese persbureau Kyodo schrijft dat Peking Trump zou will uitnodigen voor de militaire parade die op 3 september herdenkt dat de Tweede Wereldoorlog 80 jaar geleden eindigde in China. Dan zou Trump ook Poetin tegen kunnen komen.
Er is veel politiek nieuws in Taiwan. Maar het meest valt de onrust op over beschuldigen uit Tsjechië. Tijdens haar bezoek aan Praag – nadat ze was verkozen maar voordat ze was beëdigd – zou vice-president Hsiao Bi-khim het doelwit zijn geweest van Chinese overwegingen om een ‘demonstratief’ incident te creëren.
Herhaling: ik ben de rest van deze week in Berlijn. Daarom verwacht ik niet in de gelegenheid te zijn, de nieuwsbrieven van woensdag en vrijdag te versturen.
Nederland en Europa 🇳🇱🇪🇺
Ahead of a crunch summit with China, the EU is complaining of ‘stinking fish’ – SCMP: ‘“You put a stinking fish on the table, and then you want me to pay you to take it away,” was how one of multiple diplomatic sources explained it this week when describing how the EC has framed testy ties with Beijing.’ 🇪🇺
Chinese foreign minister Wáng Yì 王毅 to visit the EU headquarters, Germany, and France, hold high-level dialogues – Xinhua: ‘will meet and have talks with Belgium's Prime Minister’ 🇪🇺🇩🇪🇫🇷🇧🇪
Chinese Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅 is set to visit Europe next week, as Beijing tries to counter US tariff pressure by improving ties with other trading partners – Bloomberg: ‘Wang would “make political preparations” during the trip for the next exchanges between China and the European Union’ 🇪🇺🇩🇪🇫🇷🇧🇪
Taiwan VP Hsiao says will not be intimidated after Czech says China planned physical intimidation – Reuters: ‘a demonstrative kinetic action [autobotsing] against a protected person, which however did not go beyond the phase of preparation.’ 🇨🇿
China urges relevant party to avoid being incited or used by ‘Taiwan independence’ forces, foreign ministry spokesperson says – Xinhua: ‘By allowing diehard “Taiwan independence” separatist Hsiao Bi-khim to visit, the Czech Republic […] grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs, Guo said’ 🇨🇿
Chinese human rights delegation visits Greece, promotes exchanges – Xinhua 🇬🇷
Readers' meeting on book of Xi’s discourses on human rights held in Madrid – Xinhua 🇪🇸
Ukrainian drone attack on Kursk injures Chinese reporter for Phoenix TV, Russia says – Reuters: ‘“Western journalists are not visible at all (in Kursk),” Lu said in a video posted by TASS on social media, with his head in bandages’ 🇷🇺🇺🇦
De Hongkongse zender Phoenix TV heeft banden met mensen die banden hebben met het Chinese Volksbevrijdingsleger.
Taiwan and Czechia ink Ukraine infrastructure support deal – Taipei Times: ‘The bilateral initiative is part of an ongoing effort that began in 2023 to ensure access to water and energy for civilians in Ukraine, it said.’ 🇨🇿🇺🇦
Wereldhandelsoorlog 📉💥
Macron, Merz en Schoof accepteren Trumps importheffingen als nieuwe realiteit, maar de vraag is: hoe hoog worden ze? – NRC 🇪🇺🇺🇸
China opposes any tariff deal with the US made at its expense, commerce ministry says – Xinhua 🇺🇸
Trump turns trade talks into foreign policy wish list – POLITICO 🇺🇸
Exclusive: Beijing ties cognac deal to EV tariff talks with Europe – Reuters: ‘China will finalise it only if progress is made in a separate row over EU tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, five sources familiar with the matter said.’ 🇪🇺
Serbia has received assurances from China that it would support speeding up exports of materials critical for EV production, benefiting companies like Stellantis, President Aleksandar Vučić said – Bloomberg: ‘The Serbian government intervened on behalf of Stellantis, leveraging its strong ties with China after the carmaker sought assistance’ 🇷🇸
Von der Leyen proposes setting up EU-led alternative to WTO – FT: ‘proposed that Brussels team up with the 11 other global economies of the CPTPP to form an institution to replace the WTO’ 🇪🇺
China extends anti-dumping duties on toluidine imports from EU for another 5 years – Xinhua 🇪🇺
VS-China 🇨🇳
Trump envisions China trip with dozens of CEOs – Nikkei Asia: ‘Such a visit is expected to resemble the president's trip to the Middle East in May.’ 🇺🇸
China to invite Trump to September military parade marking WWII victory – Kyodo News: ‘The United States, meanwhile, has proposed that Chinese President Xi Jinping visit the country during the same month, coinciding with a U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York’ 🇺🇸
Poetin zal ook bij die militaire parade aanwezig zijn. Eerdere berichten in de pers schreven dat Peking juist premier Li Qiang naar de VN-bijeenkomst wilde sturen.
US says deal with Beijing will expedite rare earth exports from China – Reuters: ‘The understanding is “about how we can implement expediting rare earths shipments to the U.S. again”, the official said.’ 🇺🇸
China said it has further confirmed details of a trade framework with the US in recent days, echoing US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s earlier comments about a US-China agreement – Bloomberg: ‘“The Chinese side will review and approve eligible applications for export of controlled items in accordance with the law. The US side will correspondingly cancel a series of restrictive measures taken against China.”’ 🇺🇸
Nike plans to reduce reliance on China production for US market to soften tariff blow – Reuters 🇺🇸
VS-wereld 🌏
Taiwan to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese beer and steel for four months – Reuters 🇹🇼
Taiwan and UK hold trade talks as minister visits Taipei to boost ties – Focus Taiwan 🇬🇧
KMT proposals accused of seeking to expand Chinese influence over outlying islands of Taiwan – New Bloom: ‘The attempt to establish an FTZ would be an attempt to cement closer economic and political ties between Kinmen and Xiamen. Yet the idea has been criticized as the proposal has been criticized as an attempt to allow Chinese goods to circumvent US tariff restrictions by posing as Taiwanese goods.’ 🇹🇼
Techoorlog 💽💥
Trendbreuk: voor tweede jaar op rij komen minder kenniswerkers uit India en China naar Nederland – de Volkskrant 🇳🇱
TSMC 台積電’s affiliate VIS 世界先進 may accelerate the chip production schedule at its new US$7.8 billion joint venture in Singapore as customers seek a hedge against geopolitical risks – Bloomberg: ‘VIS’s new plant is a joint venture with Dutch firm NXP Semiconductors NV.’ 🇸🇬🇳🇱
Apple and Google’s Android have been warned by a top German privacy regulator that DeepSeek 深度求索, available on their app stores, constitutes illegal content because it exposes users’ data to Chinese authorities – Bloomberg: ‘The formal notification comes after DeepSeek ignored a May request to either pull its app from app stores in Germany or put in place safeguards when collecting local users’ data and transmitting it to China, Berlin data protection commissioner Meike Kamp said in a statement on Friday.’ 🇩🇪
DeepSeek 深度求索’s progress stalled by US export controls – The Information 🇺🇸
China’s robotindustrie onder druk, te veel inefficiënte robots – NOS: „Daarom moet het roer om. Er moet meer geld komen uit de private sector om betere robots te maken en bedrijven moeten proberen meer in het buitenland te verkopen.”
CATL to bring battery-swapping technology to Europe – FT 🇪🇺
In Depth: CATL’s bet on Europe shows challenges of recreating supply chains abroad – Caixin Global 🇪🇺
Revealed: €3.2bn plan to woo microchip giants to Ireland’s Galway – The Business Post 🇮🇪
Cloudy with a chance of bankruptcy: US tariffs hurt China’s solar firms – SCMP: ‘producers are swimming in a sea of red amid a price war and supply glut at home, while tariffs are blocking access to export markets.’
Exclusive: Trump plans executive orders to power AI growth in race with China – Reuters: ‘The moves under consideration include making it easier for power-generating projects to connect to the grid, and providing federal land’ 🇺🇸
Trump says he has ‘a group of very wealthy people’ to buy ByteDance 字节跳动’s TikTok – BBC News 🇺🇸
Singapore case against three on AI chip fraud charges adjourned until August 22 – Reuters 🇸🇬
Kantelpunt 🌏⏱️
Opinion: NATO summit’s viral ‘Daddy’ joke exposes Europe’s sidelined agenda – Xinhua: ‘a fact about NATO is evident: Europe has to give in from time to time while Washington never forgets to take advantage of the situation.’
After Nato chaos, ‘irrelevant’ Europe shambles towards China summit – SCMP: ‘Observers in Brussels already suspected that China harboured doubts about Europe’s geopolitical credibility, a sentiment that would have only grown over recent days.’
A week for the ages in the annals of Trump suck-uppery – The New Yorker: ‘This, it strikes me, is an essential point often overlooked by the suck-uppers. Trump’s bottomless need for positive affirmation is such that no one can aspire to permanently satisfy it; he simply does not stay sucked-up-to.’
All About Trump: the 2025 NATO Hague Summit – Ed Arnold for RUSI: ‘The self-described ‘strongest alliance in history’ has reduced itself to the total subservience of a single man. In doing so, the Europeans have eroded that little deterrence value they had in the eyes of their principal enemy – President Putin.’
NATO’s ‘brain death’ in The Hague – Max Bergmann for CSIS: ‘instead of focusing the summit on the critical need for Europe to figure out how to fight with significantly less U.S. support, NATO is back to focusing on largely symbolic spending targets.’
‘it distracts from the harder and more urgent task of reforming and integrating European defense efforts.’
Alexandra de Hoop Scheffer: „Die meisten Europäer werden die fünf Prozent nicht erreichen“ – Zeit Online
Het historische oordeel over ‘Den Haag 2025’ hangt uiteindelijk af van het lot van Oekraïne – de Volkskrant
Wat er in Den Haag is gebeurd vorige week, is te verdedigen enkel wanneer de duur gekochte tijd gebruikt wordt voor structurele maatregelen in Europa.
How rare earths could make or break the EU’s defence ambitions – Euractiv 🇪🇺
Overige
China buitenland en defensie
China should be alert to risk of US being drawn into war by allies, Chinese analyst says – SCMP: ‘during a press briefing on next week’s World Peace Forum in Beijing.’ 🇺🇸
Princeton University Press joins the Special Book Award of China cultural tour of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region – Princeton University Press 🇺🇸
Dow Jones partners with Chinese media outlet, says partner TMTPost – Pekingnology 🇺🇸
Canada orders China’s Hikvision 海康威视 to close Canadian operations over security concerns – Reuters 🇨🇦
China conducts ‘largest’ military and civilian rescue drill in contested South China Sea – SCMP: ‘Woody Island, called Yongxing Island by China, is part of the Paracel Islands, a contested archipelago known as the Xisha Islands in Chinese.’
China’s defence ministry warns Philippines against ‘self-inflicted destruction’ by hosting US missile systems – SCMP: ‘Zhang also condemned Manila’s recent “New Hero-Fisherfolk” programme’ 🇵🇭
Peking is al een tijdje boos over de Typhon-systemen, wat voor sommige een aanwijzing is voor het gewicht dat ze in de schaal leggen in de regio.
154th Mekong River joint patrol concludes – Xinhua: ‘Law enforcement authorities from China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand’ 🇱🇦🇲🇲🇹🇭
China and Vietnam hold border meeting on judicial cooperation – Xinhua 🇻🇳
‘It’s not Chinese assistance’: Australia accuses China of taking undue credit for aid projects in the Pacific – The Guardian: ‘China is bolstering its geo-political influence in the Pacific by “branding” Asian Development Bank projects […] as Chinese projects, the Australian government says.’ 🇦🇺
Is ook gebeurd in Kroatië met een door een Chinees bedrijf gebouwde brug betaald met Europees geld.
India seeks permanent solution to border dispute with China – Reuters: ‘Singh met China's Dong Jun on the sidelines of the meeting of the defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Qingdao on Thursday’ 🇮🇳
Een dans ‘tussen draak en olifant’ – waarom is het zo moeilijk voor China en India om samen te werken? – NRC 🇮🇳
De Chinese annexatie van Tibet, Chinese activiteiten in Nepal en Bhutan, Pekings vriendschap met Pakistan en Pekings territoriale claim op de Indiase staat Arunachal Pradesh spelen ook nog een rol.
China boosts ex-Nepal president Bhandari as she eyes political comeback – Nikkei Asia: ‘In Nepal, China relies heavily on party-to-party diplomacy over state-to-state engagement.’ 🇳🇵
China said it will allow the import of some seafood products from Japan to resume, a partial lifting of the blanket ban imposed following Tokyo’s release of wastewater from a wrecked nuclear power plant in 2023 – Bloomberg 🇯🇵
All 4 pandas at west Japan zoo depart for China, 2 remain in country – Kyodo News 🇯🇵
Xi meets Senegalese PM – Xinhua 🇸🇳
Xi meets Ecuadorian president – Xinhua 🇪🇨
China rolls over US$3.4 billion loans to Pakistan, say sources – Reuters 🇵🇰
Foreign envoys highlight cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear technology – Xinhua: ‘from the permanent missions to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna of eight countries […] during a tour in China.’ 🇺🇳🇬🇭🇧🇷🇳🇦🇧🇩🇳🇬🇵🇰🇻🇪🇮🇩
WHO geeft niet alleen China, maar ook VS en Duitsland veeg uit de pan voor hinderen onderzoek herkomst corona – de Volkskrant 🇺🇳
WHO says all Covid-19 origin theories remain open after inconclusive study – AFP 🇺🇳
De ‘lableak’ is geen geloofwaardige theorie, maar de Chinese overheden hebben het er deels zelf naar gemaakt door uitsluiting, normaal een formaliteit, onmogelijk te maken.
Video on state television teases new Chinese blackout bomb that can knock out enemy power stations – SCMP
China economie
‘No subsidy, no deal’: Shoppers fume as China’s trade-in drive stalls – what's next to boost consumption? – CNA: ‘Analysts say the pauses of the trade-in subsidies in some provinces are likely due to faster-than-expected uptake.’
China industrial profits slide as trade war uncertainty sets in – FT: ‘The slump in industrial profits followed other recent signs of weakness’
China’s revised anti-unfair competition law to take effect October 15 – Xinhua
Billions in China’s pension funds misappropriated by local governments – Caixin Global
Exclusive: China fashion retailer Shein 希音 to file confidentially for Hong Kong IPO in rare move, sources say – Reuters: ‘marking a rare departure from the usual practice of companies making public filings of IPO documents’ 🇭🇰
China binnenland
Beijing is opening state-run preschools across Tibetan areas to reverse generations of opposition to Chinese Communist Party rule – WSJ: ‘now prying children as young as four years old from their homes—before they have a chance to fully absorb the Tibetan language and way of life.’
Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 urges villagers in Xizang [Tibet] to uphold ethnic solidarity – Xinhua: ‘put forward his expectations in a reply letter to residents of a village in Nyingchi, where he paid a visit in July 2021.’
Chinese premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 chairs State Council meeting on technological advancement and public services – Xinhua: ‘the meeting emphasized the need to accelerate breakthroughs in core technologies, translate technological achievements into productivity, and consolidate the role of enterprises in pioneering innovation.’
China’s legislature formally purges seenior military official Miáo Huá 苗华 from top military body – Reuters
China’s legislature bans clothes that ‘glorify wars of aggression’ – Nikkei Asia: ‘The revision also penalizes acts like praising wars of aggression and insulting those who died in the Second Sino-Japanese War’
Chinese police detain dozens of writers over gay erotic online novels – The New York Times: ‘At the center of the crackdown is Boys’ Love, a genre of romance between men that is mostly written and read online, and mostly by heterosexual women.’
‘some observers say it appears to be the first time that Boys’ Love writers have been charged with crimes en masse, rather than merely censored or targeted individually.’
‘Scholars, lawyers and others have speculated that the police might be targeting the writers for financial reasons.’
Why are Chinese civil servants down the line saying no to dining out? – SCMP: ‘Céng céng jiā mǎ [层层加码] in Mandarin translates as “adding extra layer upon layer of control”. The phrase is well known among China’s officialdom – long used to such top-down escalation.’
‘The tendency was most recently on display during the pandemic years’
Flood-hit China expands social security net as extreme rain diversion takes toll – Reuters
Hong Kong
Laatste oppositiepartij Hongkong ontbonden vanwege ‘politieke druk’ – NOS
Naval fleet led by Shandong aircraft carrier to visit Hong Kong – Xinhua
Taiwan buitenland en defensie
Ex-President Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九 (KMT) advocates ‘peaceful, democratic unification’ in China – Focus Taiwan: ‘Ma further explained that “peaceful” means not using force or the threat of force, while “democratic” means to “respect the will of the Taiwanese people.”’ 🇨🇳
Why Israel’s spy tactics against Iran have sparked fears in Taiwan – SCMP
Taiwan binnenland en economie
Coast guard should manage island waters, not military, KMT lawmaker says – Focus Taiwan
KMT proposals accused of seeking to expand Chinese influence over outlying islands of Taiwan – New Bloom: ‘The attempt to establish an FTZ would be an attempt to cement closer economic and political ties between Kinmen and Xiamen. Yet the idea has been criticized as the proposal has been criticized as an attempt to allow Chinese goods to circumvent US tariff restrictions by posing as Taiwanese goods.’
Types of districts in this recall – Nathan Batto’s Frozen Garlic
President Lai urges DPP to back recall campaign targeting KMT lawmakers – Focus Taiwan: ‘With public concern over national security rising, civic groups have launched a large-scale recall campaign, Lai said.’
Civil groups rally to promote recall vote – Taipei Times
Opposition to hold rally to promote ‘no’ vote in recalls – Taipei Times
De TPP verbind zich steeds nauwer met de KMT.
34 KMT staff in Taichung indicted over recall forgery – Focus Taiwan: ‘The KMT, Taiwan's main opposition party, has seen around 100 chapter workers indicted in the widening investigation, including 12 from its Yilan County chapter and 31 from New Taipei.’
Wat doet het met je rank-and-file als partij, wanneer zoveel ‘gewone’ leden en activisten vervolgd worden in wat haast wel centraal aangestuurde vervalsing moet zijn? Wie durft nog?
Donovan’s Deep Dives: President Lai’s ‘nation’ speech a multi-faceted strategic strike – Courtney Donovan Smith for Taipei Times: ‘Lai accomplished a lot strategically with this speech. Then he blew much of it in his second speech by suggesting that elections and the recalls were like hammering out “impurities” in the forging process’
President Lai warns of legislative overreach in third speech; KMT cries hypocrisy – Focus Taiwan
PRC is not ROC’s ‘motherland’, President Lai says – Taipei Times
DPP national congress to discuss 2026 election nomination rules – Focus Taiwan
Amendments on streaming of court hearings clear Legislature – Focus Taiwan: ‘the Judicial Yuan expressed regret over the passage of the amendments, saying the revisions were made without adequate deliberation.’
Taiwan’s education ministry developing ‘China literacy’ education plan – Taipei Times: ‘promote understanding of it, particularly regarding democratic processes, systems and Taiwan’s international status’
Deadline nears for Taiwan’s Chinese immigrants to prove no China household registration – NPR
Majority of Chinese spouses comply with deregistration rule, MAC says – Focus Taiwan
Tainan official resigns following corruption probe – Focus Taiwan
Chunghwa Telecom 中華電信 announces first ‘sovereign satellite’ plans – Taipei Times
New nuclear energy generation can be considered, Premier Cho says – Taipei Times